THE Pennsylvania ft Magazine OF HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY ft The Aurora and the Alien and Sedition Laws Part II: The Editorship of William Duane OLLOWING Bache's death during the yellow fever epidemic in September, 1798, the Philadelphia Aurora reappeared in FNovember under the editorship of William Duane. The new editor proved to be as able a critic, commentator, and controversialist as Bache had been, enabling the Aurora to hold its position as the leading Republican organ in the United States. Indeed, Duane's energetic attacks on the Adams administration soon involved him in a sedition prosecution like the one pending against Bache when he died. Born in colonial New York of Irish parents, Duane resided in New York and Philadelphia for fourteen years before he returned with his mother to her native Ireland in 1774. For the next twenty-two years he lived in the British Empire, gaining so much renown as the liberal editor of the Calcutta Indian World that he was seized by the gov- ernor, deported without trial, and divested of his property without legal process because of his criticism of governmental officials of the East India Company. After a sojourn as Parliamentary reporter for 123 124 JAMES MORTON SMITH April the London Cjeneral ^Advertiser, Duane returned to Philadelphia, joining the ^Aurora as Bache's assistant in 1796.1 Only three months after the new editor assumed control in 1798, the Federalists brought their first charge against him. It was Duane's animosity toward the Alien Friends Act which set the stage for this legal conflict. Because of his Irish ancestry, he took an even more pronounced stand against that statute than Bache had done.2 Secre- tary of State Timothy Pickering, chief enforcement officer of the Alien and Sedition Laws, and the Federalist press immediately de- nounced the Republican editor as a United Irishman.3 When a group of citizens and aliens residing in the nation's capital voted to send a petition to Congress requesting the repeal of the Alien Law, Duane and three recent arrivals from Ireland, Dr. James Reynolds, Robert Moore, and Samuel Cuming, were chosen to circulate some of the memorials for signatures in Philadelphia. On the morning of Sunday, February 9, 1799-, Duane and the others visited St. Mary's Catholic Church where they posted small signs requesting "Natives of Ireland, who worship at this church ... to remain in the yard after divine service, until they have affixed their signatures to a memorial for the repeal of the zAlien ^ilir Two signs were tacked to the church walls near the entrance, and others were placed on the gates leading into the churchyard.4 Some of the Federalist communicants objected to the posting of a "Jacobin paper" on church property, and ripped the signs off.5 One of them reported to the priest that "a seditious meeting" was scheduled in the yard after service and circulated this word among 1 Allen C. Clark, "William Duane," Records of the Columbia Historical Society (Washington, 1906), IX, 19-21. 2 In December, 1798, only a month after he began editing the Aurora, Duane observed that "the United Irishmen stand precisely in the same odious circumstances with relation to England that John Adams stood twenty years ago—they consider George III, an intolerable tyrant now, and he did then." 3 Pickering to the President, Phila., July 24, 1799, Pickering Papers, XI, 487, Massachu- setts Historical Society. Duane always maintained that he was a native-born American, but eventually took out naturalization papers to be on the safe side. 4 Testimony of John Brown, "Trial of Duane, et. al. for seditious riot," Francis Wharton, ed., State Trials of the United States during the Administrations of Washington and Adams (Philadelphia, 1849), 34-8. In this report, Wharton incorrectly cites the Alien Enemies Law as the one being petitioned against. Ibid., 388 (note). It was the Alien Friends Act, however, that the petitioners opposed. See the Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States, Fifth Congress, Third Session, 2884-2906 (Feb. 12, 1799), hereafter referred to as Annals. 5 Testimony of James Gallagher, Wharton, 351. i953 DUANE AND THE ALIEN AND SEDITION LAWS 125 some of the church members.6 During the service, however, there was no disturbance or noise, and when church let out, Reynolds, Moore, and Cuming had two memorials spread out on a tombstone waiting for signatures.7 A large number of people gathered around Dr. Reynolds, and several persons subscribed to the petition.8 When someone shouted "Turn him out," one of the crowd pushed Rey- nolds, who pulled a gun to defend himself. The doctor was then knocked down, disarmed, and kicked, and the petitioning rally broke up.9 "Porcupine's (gazette branded this episode as a "UnitedIrish %iot" and cautioned Philadelphians that the "day is now come" when the United Irish, "a nefarious combination" favoring the Irish inde- pendence movement, constituted "a terror and torment to Amer- ica."10 Although there was no evidence that Duane, Moore, or Cuming participated in the Reynolds scuffle, they were later arrested with the doctor.11 All four were charged with being evil-disposed persons who willfully and maliciously stirred up a seditious riot by attempting to obtain signatures to the petition against the Alien Law, with intent to subvert the government of the United States.12 Cited as "Duane's case," the trial that followed might better have been called "Reynolds' case"; all of the evidence dealt with the doctor's actions. The fact that the proceedings are designated by Duane's name, however, suggests that the Federalists considered the editor the most important man in the group indicted. If they could convict Bache's successor as an accomplice and participant in the 6 Ibid. Also see the testimony of John Connor, ibid., 349. 7 Testimony of John Brown, ibid., 348. 8 Statement of defense counsel Robert H. Dunkin, ibid., 359. 9 Testimony of Lewis Ryan, ibid., 354-3551 of Gallagher, ibid., 352. 10 Porcupine's Gazette, February, 1799, reprinted in William Cobbett, Porcupine's Works; containing Various Writings and Selections . (London, 1801), X, 97. H Two indictments were returned. One charged the quartet with seditious riot, and the other charged Reynolds with an assault on Gallagher with a deadly weapon, with intent to kill. The cases were tried together and therefore were heard by the same jury. They are cited, however, as the "Trial of Duane, Reynolds, Moore and Cuming, for Seditious Riot," with no reference to the separate charge against Reynolds. See Wharton, 347. The trial was held on Feb. 21, 1799, in the state Court of Oyer and Terminer for the County of Philadelphia. 12 The presentment to the grand jury was drafted by Robert Wharton, the Federalist mayor of Philadelphia. It charged the four men with deliberately procuring an assembly of people with the determination of subverting the government of the United States. Ibid., 363. Although the indictments were not drawn up in the Attorney General's office, they were prosecuted in the name of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Ibid., 346-347. 126 JAMES MORTON SMITH April Reynolds "riot/' they could fine and imprison him, along with the other offenders against "national dignity and decorum/' Joseph Hopkinson, composer of "Hail Columbia" and a recent appointee of President Adams to negotiate an Indian treaty, was selected as special state prosecutor, and Alexander J. Dallas, Secre- tary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, headed the defense counsel. Both sides agreed that the petition was a protest against the Alien Law, that it was unexceptional in itself, that some members of the congregation signed it and that others had wanted to, and that no violence occurred until the rush on Reynolds.13 Testimony revealed that it was not unusual in Ireland to post notices on church gates, that it was customary for the congregation to tend to public business after church, and that it was never considered a profanation of the church or an insult to the congrega- tion, although the pastors were always consulted.14 In this instance, however, the petitioning group had failed to obtain the consent of the church authorities. This lack of consultation, the head priest testi- fied, was not only an insult to himself and the board of trustees; he considered any meeting held after church without his consent to be "perfectly wrong."15 Matthew Clay, a member of Congress from Virginia, swore that he had warned Reynolds of a plot to assassinate him and that the doctor had procured a gun to defend himself.16 None of the other defendants carried a weapon, and Reynolds did not produce his until pushed. There was no mention of misconduct on the part of Duane, Moore, or Cuming, and no proof that Duane was present when the scuffle took place.17 Indeed, the prosecutor did not mention Duane's name in his closing argument to the jury.18 13 Testimony of John Taggart, ibid., 2>$&\ Lewis Ryan, ibid.y 3$$\ James Gallagher, ibid., 3$i\ John Brown, ibid.y 348; and Thaddeus McCarney, ibid.y 361. 14 Testimony of Rev. Mr. Carr of St. Mary's Church, ibid.y 354. 15 Testimony of Rev. Leonard Neale, ibid.y 353. 16 Ibid., 359-360. 17 The prosecution introduced seven witnesses, headed by James Gallagher, Jr., who swore that he "did not see Mr. Duane at all." Ibid.y 352. Of the other witnesses, Connor did not see Duane, ibid., 351; nor did Rev. Neale, ibid.y 354; or Ryan, ibid.y 356. Rev. Carr's and Taggart's testimony did not deal with this question.